Insecticidal spray oil containing lecithin



Patented Mar. 29, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Myron J. Burlrhard, Ridgewood, N. J., assignor to Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, Incorporated, a corporation of New York No Drawing. Application March 29, 1944, Serial No. 528,613

2 Claims. (01. 167-20) This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial Number 365,467, filed November 13,1940, now abandoned.

This invention is concerned with the provision of insecticidal materials to be used in the treatment of fruit trees and plants in the verdant condition, and has for its object the provision of mineral oil insecticides which may be applied by spraying, as in the form of emulsions, which will not damage the foliage of the tree or plant to which it has been applied.

A very considerable amount of experience has confirmed the finding that mineral oils of low unsulphonatable residue content materially damage foliage when applied as verdant sprays. As a consequence, only oils of high unsulphonatable residue content have been so used. Unsulphonatable residue is normally regarded as an indication of the amount of unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons present in the oil, the unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons being sulphonated utilized as a verdant spray will be found to be an insecticidal oil completely competent and free from damaging characteristics when used as a verdant spray.

The oil base used will ordinarily be an oil of from 50 to 150 seconds Saybolt Universal viscosity at 100 F., of moderately refined character. The inhibitor to be used is lecithin. Lecithin is an organic phosphatide, the usual commercial product being derived from soya beans.

Lecithin may be used in concentrations of from about 0.05% by weight to about 1.00% by weight of the oil, the usual composition being about 0.10% to 0.50% by weight. Lecithin is quite soluble in oil and may be incorporated therein without difliculty:

These oils, so inhibited, may be mixed, as is usual, with additional insecticidal materials, as

arsenicals and nicotine compounds.

In use they may be converted to emulsions by way of the usual emulsifiers such as dried blood,

and removed in the test. Whether unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons are responsible for the damage or not does not appear to have been conclusively settled, but it has been conclusively settled that only oils having an unsulphonatable casein and other protein emulsifiers, or the usual emulsifying soaps.

I claim:

1. A spray oil for use in verdant spraying.

' comprising a moderately refined petroleum oil of residue of about 85% or more can be safely used in verdant spraying, a decided preference existing in favor of oil having an unsulphonatable residue of 90% or more. Such oils are found only in those oils which have undergone a rigorous refining, the typical oils of this kind being the medicinal and technical white oils which have been highly refined by the use of comparatively large quantities of strong sulphuric acid. Such oils are quite expensive.

On the contrary, there exists a rather wide selection of oils of varying viscosities, moderately refined, or even with relatively little refinement, having unsulphonatable residues ofl wervalue than those found useful. and these oils may be had at considerably lower price ranges.

This invention has for its object the rendering of such oils useful as verdant spray insecticide materials, and is based upon the discovery that such oils, when admixed with a proper amount of a suitable oxidation inhibitor, may be applied in the usual manners and in the usual concentrations, with results equal in protective power and with as little damage to foliage as the highly refined oils having much higher unsulphonatable residues. When used with a proper inhibitor, a moderately refined oil. that is. an oil having an unsulphonatable residue of around 80% and lower. which would normally cause damage when 2,258,833

Number from about to 150 seconds Saybolt viscosity at 100 F., having an unsulphonatable residue not over about and in addition thereto from about 0.05% to about 1.0% by weight of lecithin. 2. Amethod of protecting green foliage against insects that comprises spraying the green foliage with a moderately refined petroleum oil of from about 50 to 150 seconds Saybolt viscosity at I. having an unsulfonatable residue of not over about 80%, in combination with about 0.5% to about 1.0% by weightof lecithin.

MYRON J. BURKHARD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

um'ran sra'rasra'murs Name Date Yates Oct. 14, 1030 Yates Oct. 14. 1030 Knight Mar. 6, 1934 me I Adams Oct. 14, 1001 

